Monthly Archives: February 2013

It is that time once again when we will be having another Genealogy Program at the central location of the Schaumburg Township District Library on Tuesday evening, February 12, 2013 at 7:30 PM. We are located at 130 S. Roselle Road in Schaumburg, IL.

There is no pre-registration required in order to attend the program. There is no fee charged to attend. Anyone can attend this program. You do not have to be a library card holder with the Schaumburg Township District Library in order to attend.

Here is a summary of the information about the program:

Jennifer Holik

The Genealogy program will be held on Tuesday, February 12, 2013 at 7:30 PM in the 2nd floor Classroom. The guest speaker for the evening will be Jennifer Holik. Jennifer will present a program titled “Engaging the Next Generation: Parents and Grandparents Inspiring Children About Genealogy”.

This presentation will look at ways that parents and grandparents can instill the love for family history research into the next generation of family history researchers. Encourage children to join you as a family history researcher. Jennifer will share how we can best connect living generations in the pursuit of family history.

Jennifer Holik is a genealogical research professional and the owner of Generations and co-founder of The In-Depth Genealogist. Jennifer has over twenty years of research and writing experience. She has authored articles for local and national genealogical publications; authored and published a set of kids’ genealogy curriculum books in 2012; is an Expert Author for Archives.com; and writes for several blogs.

The doors to the room will open at approximately 7 PM so participants can pick up any handouts, review books and journals and interact with other participants. Tony Kierna, the STDL genealogist, will start the program at 7:30. Introductions of new participants will occur as well as a brief review of handouts and genealogical matters. It is expected that the guest speaker’s presentation will start at around 7:45-8:00 PM. We will end the session by 9:30 PM.

Yesterday I provided information that was like a stab in the heart when I indicated that the images of Birth, Marriage and Death data from Cook County, IL were no longer available to see from FamilySearch.

Well, maybe today I can alleviate some of that pain you may be experiencing by letting you know that there are some key pieces of genealogical material that are available from within FamilySearch that you may not be aware of.

Years ago when we were searching for ancestors in passenger records we often had a choice of two routes. One, look at microfilm records of passenger records with the hope of making a discovery. Or two, take a look at some printed editions of transcribed passenger records that were contained in multi-volume sets that often only resided in libraries specializing in genealogical materials.

These multi-volume passenger record editions were often for a certain ethnic area of research such as Germans, Italians, Russian or Famine Irish.

I am happy to let you know that these “print” multi-volume sets are now residing as searchable indexed databases within FamilySearch.

Ann M. made me aware of these and I am happy to share some “good” news after having reported the “bad” news yesterday of images no longer being available.

The following sets of passenger records data are now available within FamilySearch:

Germans to America Index, 1850-1897

Famine Irish Passenger Index, 1846-1851

Italians to America Index, 1855-1900

Russians to America Index, 1834-1897

To access them, go to the home page of FamilySearch at FamilySearch, select “United States” from all of the world choices, and type in your choice in the search box of one of the above if you just want to limit your search exclusively to any one database. If you just do a global search across all of the data, you will still make discoveries but you will have to screen through the hits to find those specifically for the above databases.

I personally used Germans to America at the Wheaton Public Library about 10 years ago. The set had 54 volumes at that time. The entire set was one big index broken out into various years. If you did not a specific year, you just browsed the index book by book looking for a surname of interest. If the person’s surname was spelled as you thought and it was transcribed that way, lo and behold, you would have found them. With that information you could have taken the ship information, the port information and the date and actually try to see the microfilm image from wherever you could view that associated microfilm.

I have to remind those that started their research in the day of the “internet” that researching using print materials mentioned above was often done in the manner described!! There was no “search box” on a screen. There was a printed index and the books were all scattered about as we went through them one by one looking for the name of that elusive immigrant!

Here we are today when the giant sets of volumes are now available at your fingertips via FamilySearch.

So as they say “The Lord Giveth, and the Lord Taketh Away”.

Today, I am happy we score one for “Giveth” to make up for yesterday’s “Taketh”.

If you want to go directly to any of the 4 databases follow the following links that will get you there:

These were great and unique resources pre-internet databases. Now, they are within the reach of your fingers.

Enjoy searching through the material. There is some great information you can obtain if you find who you are looking forward. Read the descriptions of the data contained in the databases. Take it all in!

I just became aware that the journal of the Chicago Genealogical Society titled Chicago Genealogist is now available digitally online for issues created from 1969 to 2007. The journal is created quarterly. The years that are available span Volumes 1 to 39 of the publication.

The journals are viewable in browse mode. Just flip through the material page by page and read about what genealogical research life was like “back in the day” in the 1970s when our world was not accessed at our fingertips as we do today with the internet.

The journals are also searchable. Use a keyword. Use a surname. You can limit your search to one particular journal. Or, you can actually search across all of the data. Consider searching for a surname if you have Chicago ancestral connections because these journals often published information about projects the society did. Names associated with these projects were simply printed as part of the reporting article. Remember, think pre-internet! Just as you search the internet today and discover names of your ancestors, the printed media back in the 1970s was still the method to make these discoveries.

Check out these digitized journals from the local Chicago Genealogical Society. You can browse through the material at:

I actually did a “test search” using POLISH as my search term across all of the issues in the digitized collection. The search worked wonderfully and I received many “hits”. Great news! The “hits” are all color-coded in a light blue for easy finding in the actual text page. In the left side-bar of the search page is a list of the individual pages for that particular journal. Any “hit” for your search will cause the page of the journal on the left side to be highlighted in red, giving you a clue your search term is contained within that page. You can just look at the left side for all “red” pages, click on that page and then look on the right side for the “blue” highlighted hit in the text of the page itself.

The total number of hits is identified at the top where all the pages are listed for that particular journal containing the hits. You can also click on a “next hit” tab at the top of this listing of pages section. Or, you can just scroll down the list looking for the “red” for that page containing a hit.

Don’t forget to be aware of the total number of hits within the journal so you do not forget to look at the remainder after viewing the first page with the hit!

This is great!

Here is a link to a sample page of a hit for me using POLISH as a search term:

Now you have the capability to tap into these digitized journals in today’s search environment to see if maybe an ancestor of yours from Chicago might have been identified in one of the older journals of the Chicago Genealogical Society.

The materials have been made available through a cooperative effort with Consortium of Academic and Research Libraries in Illinois Digital Collections site (CARLI).

Thank you Chicago Genealogical Society and CARLI for “highlighting” the found search term hits!

Newer issues of the journal are available through membership in the society. Newer issues are also available through local libraries that are also members themselves of the society and receive the journal for their collections.

A big “high-five” to the Chicago Genealogical Society for making this voluminous amount of printed material spanning 38 years available to all genealogical researchers.

Yikes! I do have some bad news to relay to all of you, especially for those of you that have had a lot of focus on Cook County, IL Birth, Marriage and Death Records that were routinely available as images at FamilySearch.

It is with a heavy heart that I must relay to you that the images are no longer available through Family Search and the databases they showed at the FamilySearch site for Cook County, IL records.

You can still search by the surname for these records and then see a transcription-like description of the information contained in the record. BUT THE IMAGE IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE TO VIEW FOR FREE FROM WITHIN FAMILYSEARCH!

Ann M., one of our frequent attendees at our program shared this with me. I thought that can’t be true. However, looking at the material I sadly saw that only the descriptive index item of information is available with no ability to see the image.

I did look at one of the text descriptions of one of the database files for Cook County, IL information. FamilySearch, I give them credit for this, did provide an explanation and some guidelines on alternatives on what to do for the researcher who uses these records.

Here is a FamilySearch provided description of what transpired between FamilySearch and Cook County, IL that changed the availability of these fabulous images we all so loved. The description from FamilySearch follows in Italics after the separator line:

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Image Visibility

Due to the provisions and guidelines of a newly revised contract with Cook County, FamilySearch has removed all images for Illinois, Cook County vital records from its historical records collections online; free indexes to the collections will remain.

As part of our new agreement, FamilySearch will receive an additional 4.7 million records for FamilySearch patrons from the over 9 million free indexed records in the Cook County collection. The following collections are affected by the change:

Illinois, Cook County Birth Certificates, 1878-1922

Illinois, Cook County Birth Registers, 1871-1915

Illinois, Cook County Deaths, 1878-1922

Illinois, Cook County Marriages, 1871-1920

Original images can be ordered or viewed through the following mediums.

There you go. We enjoyed the images we had previously been able to access. But alas, since Cook County, IL has a “paysite” for this information, it seems that it was only a matter of time until that permission was no longer granted to FamilySearch to allow the images to be posted and available for free from FamilySearch.

Your alternative might simply be to access the images for cost from the Cook County, IL paysite for this information.

I don’t think the pain of losing these images has set in with me at this time!

Granted, the indexed information is all there but it was so nice and helpful to be able to look at the image, especially when you know that so many transcription errors can exist from the original to the indexed item. Other clues could also be garnered from the image for the various components of the records that might not have been included in the transcription process, such as a doctor’s name, a funeral home’s name, a church’s name. These were often great clues to see in the image that were not extracted into the indexed item.

Oh well, we can’t cry over spilled milk! (Actually, I think we can for a little while, but then we have to move on!).

I wish I had better news to report to you.

But it is what it is!

Next time you access the Illinois, Cook County data at FamilySearch you will see no images. Now you know why.

I thought I would post this reminder of our next upcoming Genealogy Program at the Schaumburg Township District Library.

There is no pre-registration required in order to attend the program. There is no fee charged to attend. Anyone can attend this program. You do not have to be a library card holder with the Schaumburg Township District Library in order to attend.

Here are the details of our upcoming program for Tuesday evening, February 12, 2013:

Jennifer Holik

The Genealogy program will be held on Tuesday, February 12, 2013 at 7:30 PM in the 2nd floor Classroom. The guest speaker for the evening will be Jennifer Holik. Jennifer will present a program titled “Engaging the Next Generation: Parents and Grandparents Inspiring Children About Genealogy”.

This presentation will look at ways that parents and grandparents can instill the love for family history research into the next generation of family history researchers. Encourage children to join you as a family history researcher. Jennifer will share how we can best connect living generations in the pursuit of family history.

Jennifer Holik is a genealogical research professional and the owner of Generations and co-founder of The In-Depth Genealogist. Jennifer has over twenty years of research and writing experience. She has authored articles for local and national genealogical publications; authored and published a set of kids’ genealogy curriculum books in 2012; is an Expert Author for Archives.com; and writes for several blogs.

The doors to the room will open at approximately 7 PM so participants can pick up any handouts, review books and journals and interact with other participants. Tony Kierna, the STDL genealogist, will start the program at 7:30. Introductions of new participants will occur as well as a brief review of handouts and genealogical matters. It is expected that the guest speaker’s presentation will start at around 7:45-8:00 PM. We will end the session by 9:30 PM.

I received a recent e-mail newsletter from the Swedish American Museum of Chicago.

One part of the newsletter noted that the museum is offering recurring genealogy help sessions on each 4th Saturday of the month. For those that are members of the museum, the service is free; for those that are non-members but would still like to obtain some Swedish genealogical assistance, the fee is $10.

Research help is also being offered on Wednesday afternoons from Noon to 3 PM. This service is also free for members and will cost $10 for non-members.

Here are the details contained from the e-mail I received regarding the genealogy help that is being offered that follows in Italics after the break line:

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The Nordic Family Genealogy Center hosts genealogy sessions from 10 a.m. to noon on the fourth Saturday of most months. Check the Swedish American Museum’s website for specific dates and topics. Annual membership: $20 for Museum members; non-members pay $10 per session.

The Genealogy Center is also open for individual research Wednesday afternoons between noon and 3:00 p.m. Individual assistance is provided by experienced members of the Nordic Family Genealogy Center. There is no charge for Museum members: non-members pay $10 per visit. Reservations recommended and can be made by calling 773.728.8111.

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In fact, the genealogy program being offered on Saturday, February 23, 2013, from 10 AM to Noon is titled “Fermented Herring For Anyone?”. This genealogy session will be exploring fermented herring-a delicacy from Northern Sweden, among other food traditions. This session will be led by Kerstin Nicholson. If possible, bring your laptop computer and family information to class.

If you have Swedish ancestral research needs and you live in the area, you might want to consider connecting with the Swedish American Museum in Chicago for help as well as just to be aware of all of the activities the museum is offering both for Swedish genealogy and for Swedish cultural information.

All of the contact information for the museum is above as well as in the full newsletter link below.

Here is a link to the full contents of the newsletter material I received from the Swedish American Museum of Chicago: